The standard of truth has been erected...

     “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” When Joseph made this declaration in the early 1840s, I don't know if he imagined how literal it would become with the advent of the internet and social media (and then maybe he did). The amount of progress the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has made just in the past 5 years is astounding to me. While I was on my mission, not even two years ago, I had several conversations with some fellow missionaries about the use of technology in missionary work. We talked about how having iPads would make organizing of the paperwork we had to do (and we had to do a lot, FYI) a lot easier. But since I, as well as some others, were convinced that the Church would never give missionaries iPads, we settled for creating a program for phones, which one missionary actually set out to writing. A few months after this particular conversation I met a missionary who's dad actually worked in the Tech department in the Church, and he mentioned how iPads would be tested out in several missions. I didn't believe it. A few months after that the Church gave a special missionary broadcast explaining how technology would be used in missionary work in the very near future, including iPad use, and that all of these new ideas are being tested out in several missions already. Needless to say, I was amazed. 

     The thing is, it's not just the LDS church that has been moving to a 'paperless' church; several different churches and religions are using social media to their advantage. And it isn't even limited to religion; charity organizations, businesses, education programs, governments, and even political activist groups are jumping onto the digital frontier in what is now known as digital altruism. After the Boston Marathon Bombing last year, the terrorists were caught through a search of photos of the event on social media sites. Public awareness on government controversies in Egypt was spread through Facebook and Twitter. Equality movements (such as gay marriage and women's rights movements) have made major headway on the digital frontier. Just this past week, on Mother's Day, many people were able to connect with their mothers through Skype, phone, FaceTime, and other social media platforms, when they otherwise would not have been able to. Technology has opened the doors for many major advancements in society. It is amazing how far we've come. The question comes, how much farther can we go?